1: Educational Reforms Flashcards
The order of education reforms
1) Forster Education Act 1870
2) Butler Education Act 1944
3) Comprehensive Education 1965
4) Marketisation 1988 - 1997
5) Labour government 1997
6) Current 2010 - present day
Forster Education Act 1870
Policy: Created elementary schools for 5-11
year olds
Aim: To provide Britain with an educated workforce and to ward off the threat of revolution
Criticism of the Forster Education Act 1870
Made little difference to the lives of w/c children as they only learnt basic skills required for factory work
Butler Education Act 1944
Policies: Created secondary schools for 11-15 year
olds.
Three types of secondary schools: grammar, secondary modern and technical.
Aim: To provide ‘equality of opportunity for all’ as all children sat the same 11+ exam thus being judged on merit.
Criticism of the Butler Education Act 1944
‘Parity of esteem’ (the idea that one school should be considered to have the same ‘status’ as another) did not exist which led students to see themselves as failures if they didn’t go to a grammar school.
Unfair to girls as they were marked down on the assumption boys mature at a later age and most grammar schools were same sex and for boys only.
Comprehensive education 1965
Policies: Comprehensive schools and catchment areas
Compensatory education
Aims: To break down class barriers and create a social mix in schools To improve the self esteem of 11 year olds by not labelling them as failures.
Criticisms of Comprehensive education 1965
Catchment areas are usually class based so class barriers weren’t broken down.
‘Tripartite system under one roof’ due to setting and streaming
Marketisation 1988 - 1997
Policies: Marketised education
by creating FOOL policies (Formula Funding, Open Enrolment, Ofsted, League tables
Aim: To run schools on the basis of free market economy so all schools compete and bad schools are closed down to lack of funding
Criticisms of Marketisation 1988 - 1997
Gilborn and Youdell: A-C Economy - teachers carry out educational triage
Barlett: Cream skimming/Silt shifting
New Labour 1997 reforms
Policies:
Marketisation - different types of schools (specialist schools, city academies and faith schools) ,university fees, increased power for Ofsted
Reducing social inequality - Education Maintenance Allowance, Education Action Zones, Curriculum 2000 and Extended Schools.
Aims: Reduce social inequality and Marketisation
Criticisms of Labour government 1997 reforms
Gewirtz: the increase in marketisation continues to benefit m/c as they have the cultural capital to select the good school for their children.
Whitty: New Labour policies are cosmetic – they present a positive image, but in reality they are not following through with their aims. For example, while EMA encouraged working class students to remain in post 16 education, the university fees put them off higher education (policy of reducing class inequality)
Current 2010 - present day reforms
Policies: Pupil Premium, converter academies, free schools and harder national curriculum
Aim: Marketisation
Criticisms of Current 2010 - present day reforms
Free schools wasted money as many closed down in the first year of opening and only benefited m/c who had the cultural capital to know about them
Pupil premium is meant to be spent on students however is being used to fill in the gaps of the schools budget.
Changes to A Levels affect w/c students as they lack the cultural capital to succeed in exams and are likely to get lower grades as there are fewer opportunities for re-sits
